Elusive Deception
by Moonlite Knight
Summary: There are some things money can’t buy, which is precisely why one must resort to stealing them. Somehow though, Artemis failed to foresee any competition or opposition. Luckily, he’s a genius. Unluckily, so are they, albeit in a differing ways. AFxDC


**_This is an Artemis Fowl and Detective Conan crossover. It can also be considered a crossover with Magic Katio since Kid will pop up a lot, but he also pop ups in DC, so, whatever. ^^_**

**_Timeline: Anytime after Ai shows up for DC. Before TTP for AF._**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl, Shinchi, or Kid. Why, why, why, oh dear lawyers, must you force me to admit that?_

**Elusive Deception**

Prologue: Drowsy Disclosures

The serene silence of the early morning was shattered by the shrill ringing of a communicating device. The rings echoed through the air until they finally managed to force their way into the sleepy ears, and mind, of the owner of the gadget.

There are some individuals in the world who can be considered as early risers, those who take pride in rising with the sun. Then there are those who, were it up to them, would gladly begin the day at eleven fifty-nine. Artemis Fowl belonged to the less common category of those who stayed awake well into the night and finally rested just as the first rays of sunlight began to peek through the curtains. Sleep was a necessity, not a luxury, for such individuals.

So it is to be expected that such individuals do not take kindly to receiving calls at six in the morning, barely an hour after they had decide to rest their heads. Artemis certainly didn't.

Eyes still shut, he untangled one hand from his blanket and reached for his phone, vowing to properly deal with the individual on the other end at a godlier hour. It took several more minutes of the ringing still penetrating his sleep deprived mind for him to realize that the sound was not, in fact, coming from the elusive phone. It was coming from the fairy communicator that Holly had given him.

Good, at least he now knew who to extract his revenge on.

Not bothering to remove his head from his warm pillow, he shifted his hand from the table to the bag that was placed there. He couldn't recall the reason he had left the bag there, but he was grateful nonetheless. Having to get up to answer the call was not something he would have happily done, and the results of that would most likely filter into whatever revenge he extracted later on. The ringing continued its tuneless tirade as he fumbled for the communicator. Never mind, he was going to avenge himself in any manner he chose.

His fingers finally found the cause of his annoyance and he immediately answered the call, if only to silence the shrill sound. Pressing the communicator to his ear, the rather disgruntled genius half growled half mumbled out what was probably a "hello."

"About time," was the answer he received to his less than enthusiastic greeting. "What took you so long?"

"Holly, are you at all aware of the time?" Artemis muttered through clenched teeth. He partially opened one eye before quickly shutting it. It was much too bright outside. It had to be around six or seven.

"It's six in the morning," Holly replied, affirming his deduction. She did not, in any way, seem at all apologetic at having awoken him at such an hour. "What's the matter, missing out on your beauty sleep?"

Artemis decided it was too early to bother with this. He disconnected the call, and buried his head deeper into the pillows. He'd call her back later, after he got at least five hours of sleep and actually had the patience to deal with her.

Holly had other plans.

Stifling a groan, Artemis answered the communicator as it began to ring once again.

"If you do not inform me as to why you persist in pestering me at such an ungodly hour," he started in a deathly calm voice devoid of any of the drowsiness that had been present just moments before. "I will ensure that you regret it."

The voice failed to have its desired effect on Holly as she had grown far too accustomed to it. But she still answered the question hidden in the threat, because it was common courtesy. _Not_ because she was intimidated.

"It's an emergency," she told her grumpy friend. "Get up, you can sleep all you want after you help."

"Elaborate." Artemis ordered, not making a single move to get out of bed. If he had to wake up, then there had better be a darn good reason for him to do so.

"Da'vrit, Artemis," Holly snapped, finally losing the last of her patience. "It's something that could expose the fairies to all Mudmen and change life as we know it."

That woke Artemis up a bit. "A bit overdramatic aren't you, Holly?" he said sitting up and clearing the remnants of the sleepy haze from his mind. "What happened?"

"A few fairy artifacts have somehow _leaked_ onto the surface." The fairy replied, ignoring the jibe.

"Do you mean—"

"Luckily you Mudmen haven't realized what they are yet," Holly said, speaking right over the genius. Clearly, the jibe hadn't been as overlooked as he had previously thought. "As far as I can tell, they're either looked up in private collections or displayed in museums."

"That is unfortunate." Artemis commented carelessly, smoothing down his tousled hair. "And what do you want me to do about it?"

He could almost hear Holly bristle at his condescending tone.

"What makes you think I need your help?" She shot back before remembering that both of them knew perfectly well that she would not be calling him if she didn't need his help. Darn Artemis. "Okay, maybe I do need your help, but there's no need to be smug about it. One way or another, I bet you're somehow connected to this."

"Oh Holly," Artemis said, all traces of lethargy replaced smugness. "You wound me. Do you honestly think that little of me?"

Though he couldn't see it, he was well aware that Holly had rolled her eyes at the accusation.

"Yes, yes," she said, mildly irritated. "We can console your injured feelings later. Right now, I need you to get out of your little nest and track down the items."

With a sigh, Artemis obeyed her instructions, stretching his cramped muscles along the way. The sooner he helped her, the sooner he'd be able to go back to sleep.

"You don't pay me enough for this," he said into the com with a smirk. He slipped his feet into the slippers placed conveniently at his bedside and proceeded to make his way to the computer.

"I pay you too much already," Holly snapped back. "If anyone should be complaining, it's me. All the gold in the world wouldn't be enough to have to deal with you."

Artemis didn't bother to take offense at the 'good-natured' ribbing. Holly was the only one he would ever allow to speak to him in such a manner. Mainly because, well, there really wasn't anything he could do to stop her without resorting to blackmail. But he also let her get away with it because a small part of him actually enjoyed the verbal sparring. Not that he would ever admit it out loud of course.

"Have you compiled a list of the missing items?" he questioned, stifling a yawn as he waited for his computer to power up.

"Of course," Holly said, indignantly. "I've already sent it to you as well, while you were napping."

"Being in bed at six in the morning is referred to as sleeping, not napping," he informed her, clicking a certain few icons on his desktop and bringing up the list in question. A thin eyebrow rose as he quickly scanned it. "A sculpture, a painting, and a jewel?"

"Yes," Holly said, her manner shifting from teasing to professional in a second. "Don't ask how they ended up on the surface, customer confidently and all that. Can you track them?"

Artemis gave a non-committing hum in response. "Can you send me any information on these three?"

"Sent," Holly replied after a moment. "You should get it in a moment. And you didn't answer, Artemis. Aren't you an art fanatic? This should be easy for you."

"I prefer the term art critic," the former criminal master mind replied, as he opened up the documents that he had just received. A quick look confirmed the hypothesis he had formed upon learning the items in question. "Well, isn't this interesting."

"What is it?"

"Why is it that you are the one in charge of searching for these?" Artemis asked, instead of answering. "Wouldn't a huge breech as this be handled by the LEP?"

"The 'authorities' aren't exactly aware of this yet," Holly replied, not missing the fact that Artemis was avoiding her questions. "We've about three weeks to get these back before they clue in. Now, what is it?"

"Nothing too important." Artemis said absently, only a quarter of his mind focused on the conversation. The rest was busy making connections, forming plans, and being smug. "About three weeks you said?"

"Yes, aren't you paying any attention?"

"Of course I was," he answered, fingers flying over the keyboard as the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Perfect. "I was merely confirming a fact."

"Really?" Holly sounded skeptical, but she didn't press. "How soon do you think you'll have the locations?"

"Soon." He minimized the document she had sent him, and brought up a map instead. He surveyed it carefully, searching for a name to specific coordinates.

"Good." She sounded relived, making him wonder just how long she had attempted to search for them herself before turning to him. If he knew her, and he did, then he was likely her last resort. "Contact me as soon as you do."

"Ah, one more thing Holly," he said before the fairy could disconnected the call. "When you accused me of being involved with this…you weren't all that far off."

And then he disconnected the call before she had a chance to process the information she had received. Let her mull over that for a while, right now he was going to sleep.

Artemis stifled a yawn as he headed back to his bed. He knew she'd demand to know what he meant by that the next time talked, she knew better than to call back right away and demand answers. At the moment however, he simply wanted to catch up on the sleep that he had lost tracking the three items that Holly had just called him to find. He'd been tracking the movements of the three items for several weeks now and had already uncovered which country they were currently in, as well as the city, street, and room.

It was at times like these that Artemis fully appreciated the concept of irony.

**END PROLOGUE **


End file.
